247 
INDIVIDUALISM IN ART. 
INDIVIDUALISM IN A B T . * 
W. KINETON PARKES. 
The 19tli Century is remarkable by reason of the 
four great movements in Thought which have charac¬ 
terised it. The first was that originated at Oxford by the 
publication of the “ Tracts for the Times.” This, with 
Cardinal Newman at its head, has 'had a most potent 
influence upon national life, and was the stirring in Beligion 
which corresponded to the next of these great movements, 
the Benaissance of Art in England, which had been 
commenced years before by Blake. The Pre-Baphaelite 
Brotherhood, with Dante Gabriel Bossetti as their leader, 
made an effort for English Art which it sorely needed. In 
the whole of the history of Art in this country, no such 
movement had before taken place, and most happily it came 
at the right moment. English Art was falling into evil 
repute, for its chief characteristics were inanity and childish¬ 
ness, and an utter want of poetry and feeling. The Pre- 
Eaphaelites made a step in the right direction. They went 
direct to Nature for their inspiration, in the true spirit of 
the dwellers in the 19th Century. The next movement was 
the revolution in Philosophy. The philosophers, as well 
as the artists, went to Nature, and the result was Evolution. 
Darwin and Mr. Herbert Spencer were the prophets. 
The last movement of the century is, it seems to me, the 
application of the scientific method to Literature. In this we 
still await the prophet; that he is born and among us, although 
at present we hardly know where to find him, is certain. 
Soon we shall make the discovery, and the devotees of the 
new Literature will gather round his standard, as the devotees 
of the new Philosophy gather in the library formed by the 
volumes which compose the “ System of Synthetic Philo¬ 
sophy ” ; as the devotees of the new English Art gather in 
the galleries where Bossetti, Holman Hunt, Burne Jones, 
and Watts are represented. It is the scientific method to 
which the adherents of the synthetic philosophy must give 
their aid and their abilities, the scientific method devoted to 
all branches of thought and knowledge. It is the method of 
the times, and the one which alone will serve. It must be 
applied to religion, to philosophy, to literature—to poetry as 
* Transactions of the Birmingham Natural History and Micro¬ 
scopical Society, Sociological Section, June 16tli, 1887. 
